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Under the insistent demands of Kaguya, poor Hagoromo Gitsune was forced into an outfit that she clearly felt very uncomfortable in.
Watching her constantly fidget and squirm, Veyron couldn't help but chuckle. "If it's that bad, just change back or stay naked."
"Until you can use your own fur to shape proper clothing, just don't go out in human form, simple as that."
"Alright," she replied with a sigh of relief.
In the blink of an eye, she slipped out of the clothes and transford into a small, snow-white fox. She leapt into Veyron's arms and lazily closed her eyes as he scratched her chin just the way she liked.
Kaguya said dryly, shaking her head. "I'm more curious how Miss Inukimi will react when she finds out she's 'lost your favor' after coming out of seclusion."
"That won't happen," Veyron said flatly. "They're not even playing the sa ga."
If you think of it in ga terms, Inukimi was more of a mount—Hagoromo was clearly a pet. Totally different slots.
"What if they're both in human form?" Kaguya pressed.
"…You seem to know way too much about this!" Veyron growled in mock annoyance before unceremoniously tossing the little fox out the window. "Go wander around a bit if you want," he called after her. "Just don't leave the bamboo forest!"
Having spent so ti with Veyron already, Hagoromo was quickly becoming a familiar face around Eientei, and her integration into the household went pretty smoothly.
After a few days of getting used to things and settling into a rhythm, she ca to a rather startling realization: That offhand decision to pledge herself to Veyron—spurred by a casual suggestion from that beautiful, pink-haired girl in the Netherworld—was probably the smartest choice she had made in over six hundred years of being a yokai.
Sure, she'd trained for centuries and had made decent progress. But at the end of the day, she was still just a high-level yokai with no real hope of breaking through to the next level.
In Japan, there was a common saying among yokai and spirits: "Anything below a Great Yokai is basically cannon fodder."
So even after she'd reached the peak of what a high-level yokai could achieve, all she'd done was quietly roam around her birthplace, the Shinoda Forest.
She hadn't even stepped outside the province of Izumi before Yukari Yakumo caught her and dragged her into the Netherworld.
If you asked her whether that quiet life was comfortable… well, sure, it was.
But if you asked whether she was satisfied with that life? Well, nah.
Centuries of training, still no breakthrough… how could she possibly be satisfied?
Of course, she also understood the odds. Out of ten thousand yokai who reached the high-level threshold, maybe one would manage to evolve into a Great Yokai.
So she'd made peace with it—until now.
After following Veyron.
All she had to do was act cute and stick close to him, and without lifting a claw, she was getting a constant supply of high-grade Sea King at and powerful elixirs.
In just a few days, her body and spiritual energy had skyrocketed—by nearly fifty percent!
Fifty. Percent.
To put that in perspective, she'd spent over a hundred years thinking she'd already maxed out her potential at the high-level stage.
And that's not even ntioning the extra benefits—like that shot of T-Virus Veyron gave her two days ago. It awakened sothing called a "Gene Lock" in her, a hidden potential she could activate when needed to temporarily multiply her strength.
She wasn't stupid. She knew the world didn't hand out free als. She knew there was no such thing as a free lunch.
But seriously, with everything Veyron had invested in her already, it didn't matter that she was just a little high-level yokai. Even if she were a Great Yokai, she'd still have a hard ti saying no to him.
After stuffing herself with Sea King at, Hagoromo happily humd a tune she picked up from Veyron and strolled out the front doors of Eientei's main building. She figured a walk through the bamboo forest would help with digestion.
Plus, she had a task from Eirin Yagokoro—if she saw any rabbits out there, she was to catch one and bring it back for "experintal purposes."
Snagging a few ordinary rabbits was child's play for soone like her. She was, after all, a high-level yokai. Those little furballs barely counted as supernatural.
A few minutes later, she was casually walking back to Eientei, a few squirming rabbits floating behind her, neatly restrained by her yokai energy.
It was routine by now—she'd done this sa little errand more than once these past few days, and she'd gotten pretty good at it.
But this ti… sothing felt different.
She paused.
Hagoromo's golden eyes locked onto a bamboo house to the west, its front door now wide open.
According to Veyron, that was where another yokai follower of his stayed—a dog demon from the western lands nad Inukimi.
Just like herself, Inukimi was one of Veyron's followers… though with one key difference. Hagoromo had already pledged permanent loyalty, swearing him as her master. Inukimi, on the other hand, was technically just a "temporary" follower—for now.
"…Um, I'm not trespassing," Hagoromo said quickly, the mont she felt an imnse pressure lock onto her. It was overwhelming—an aura only a Great Yokai could release. She definitely couldn't deal with that.
"Of course you're not," ca the cool, elegant reply.
A regal white dog stepped gracefully out of the bamboo house—Inukimi in her beast form.
"If you were trespassing, you wouldn't have made it this far alive."
It was only after breaking through to the Great Yokai level that Inukimi had finally understood just how terrifying the spell Eirin cast over the entire bamboo forest really was.
Even just the portion she could understand was enough to make her—despite her recent breakthrough—feel like death was just one misstep away.
Her eyes drifted to the rabbits floating beside Hagoromo, bound by yokai energy. There was a flicker of subtle emotion in her expression as she spoke to the fox who'd apparently taken over her old job of "forest patrol and rabbit catching."
"…So. Has he ridden you yet?"
"…Huh?" Hagoromo blinked. The white fox turned a little red.
Thanks to a rather awkward incident when she first took on human form, she'd spent her free ti flipping through a bunch of biology books Kaguya had tossed at her.
And so… she now had so idea of what that question might an.
Yup, the real riding.
"N-not yet… but other stuff... umm..."
Hearing the fox's answer, Inukimi lifted her chin slightly.
Wait a second.
Why did she feel proud about being his mount?
Inukimi shook her head, trying to clear her thoughts. Sothing about her mindset was definitely off right now.
And just then, a familiar voice called out from the direction of the main building—
"You did it?"
Veyron had sensed it. The pressure that had been building inside Inukimi's house for over a month had finally exploded—and leveled up significantly. Curious and genuinely pleased, he stepped outside to offer his congratulations.
He was smiling as he looked over the now even more majestic Inu-Yokai.
"Yeah, I did… I—"
Inukimi had barely started to respond when she suddenly froze.
Her eyes widened.
Because in the very next second, that white fox beside her let out an excited yip, darted forward in a blur, and leapt straight into Veyron's arms—transforming mid-air into a completely naked girl and landing in his embrace with zero sha.
Inukimi was left staring, dumbstruck.
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